Air cushion borne vehicles



Dec. 1966 w. J. EGGINGTON ETAL 3, 91,239

AIR CUSHION BORNE VEHICLES Filed May 19, 1964 W i ii hf m United States Patent Oflfice 32%,239 Patented Dec. 13, 1966 3,291,239 AER CUSHION BORNE VEHICLES Wilfred James Eggington, Buffalo, N.Y., and Gordon Victor Watts, Swindon, England, assignors to Vickers- Armstrongs (Engineers) Limited, London, England, a British company Filed May 19, 1964, Ser. No. 363,611 Claims priority, application Great Britain, May 24, 1963, 20,950/63 2 Claims. (Cl. 1807) This invention relates to air cushion borne vehicles.

According to the present invention there is provided a vehicle adapted to be supported at least partially on an air cushion, the vehicle having on its underside a flexible skirt constituting a side of a space arranged to receive air for forming the air cushion, wherein said skirt has a wall of flexible material extending downwardly from the body of the vehicle, there being flexible webs spaced at intervals along the inside surface of the wall and attaching same to the underside of the vehicle body, and ducting for supplying air from a compressor to the upper part of the inside surface of said wall so that in operation air flows down the inside surface, the

-air causing said wall to assume a corrugated form in plan view and the air leaving the bottom of said wall to form an air curtain.

For a better understanding of the invention and to show how the same may be carried into effect reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic sectional elevation of part of a vehicle adapted to be borne at least partially on an air cushion, and

FIGURE 2 is a section on II-II of FIGURE 1.

The vehicle of FIGURE 1 has a body 1 in which are formed ducts 2 (only one of which is shown in FIGURE 1) for feeding air from a compressor (not shown) carried on the body 1, to a space 3 formed between two thin flexible walls 4 and 5 of a skirt 6 that extends around the underside of the periphery of the body 1. The wall 4 which is an outer wall of the skirt 6, has its upper edge secured to the underside of the peripheral part of the body 1 whilst the upper edge of the wall 5 is spaced from the underside of the body 1 to form a gap 7. As can be seen from FIGURE 1 the wall 4 eX- tends downwardly and inwardly and the wall 5 downwardly and outwardly so that the space 3 between the walls converges downwardly. The walls 4 and 5 are joined to each other by vertical webs 3 of flexible material. The upper edges of the webs 8 are secured directly to the underside of the body 1 and thus limit outward displacement of the wall 4. By virtue of the sloping dispositions of the walls 4 and 5 it will be understood that the vertical webs 8 are of triangular form. The bottom edge of the wall 4 is spaced from the bottom edge of the wall 5 to form an outlet 9 at the bottom of the skirt 6, the outlet being in the form of a slot running around the whole of the bottom of the skirt, the slot being bridged periodically along its length by the bottom edges of the webs 8.

In operation of the vehicle described above the air supplied along the ducts 2 to the space 3 that is between the walls 4 and 5 causes the skirt 6 to be inflated. It will be noted that the ducts 2 are positioned to cause the air to issue from the underside of the vehicle body 1 inwardly of the wall 4, the upper edge of the inner wall 5 being spaced inwardly from the location when the air issues from the ducts 2. The walls 4 and 5, when the skirt is inflated, are of corrugated form in plan view as indicated in FIGURE 2, the corrugations extending in the up-and-down direction. It will be understood from this, firstly, that the webs 3 are attached to the walls 4 and 5 along lines extending up and down the surfaces of these walls, and secondly, that the webs 8 are joined to parts of the walls 4 and 5 that are between the top and bottom edges of these walls. Each corrugation of the walls 4 and 5 is concave on its side facing the space 3. Air flows from the space 3 downwardly in the form of a jet to form an air curtain 11 around the space that is below the body 1 and encircled by the skirt 6. Air from the curtain flows into this space to form therein an air cushion 10 that supports the vehicle. The air curtain minimises leakage of air laterally from the cushion 10 beneath the bottom of the skirt 6. Air may also flow through the gap 7 into'the air cushion space and this flow may form the sole supply of air to the cushion if) that is additional to that supplied by the air curtain.

It will be understood that for the skirt 6 to be inflated as described above the total area of the gap 7 and outlet 9 needs to be less than the total inlet area from the ducts 2 to the space 3. However, the outlet 9 can be of greater area than said total inlet area and in this case the outer wall 4 assumes a corrugated form because of the pressure difference between the pressure of the air flowing down its inside face and atmospheric pressure acting on the outside face of the wall 4. In such a case the wall 5 can, if desired, be omitted.

It will be seen from FIGURE 2 that the webs 8 extend inwardly from the wall 4 substantially perpendicular to the general direction of the length (along the peripheral part of the vehicle body 1) of the adjacent part of the wall 4.

We claim:

1. A vehicle adapted to be supported at least partially on an air cushion, the vehicle comprising a vehicle body having a peripheral part; a flexible skirt on the underside of the vehicle body and constituting a side of a space that receives air from forming the air cushion, said skirt including an outer wall of flexible material extending downwardly and inwardly and having its upper edge effectively carried by the peripheral part of the body of the vehicle, said skirt also comprising an inner wall extending downwardly and outwardly relative to the vehicle body and spaced from the outer wall, upright flexible webs located between and spaced at intervals along said walls, the webs being attached to the inside surfaces of the walls along lines extending upwardly and downwardly of said surfaces, said webs extending inwardly substantially perpendicular to the general direction of the adjacent part of said outer wall along said peripheral part of the vehicle body and being effectively connected to the underside of the vehicle body thereby to limit outward displacement of said outer wall; and ducting for supplying air under pressure for the skirt and air cushion, said ducting being positioned to supply air to the upper part of the inside surface of the outer wall, the space between said inner and outer walls communicating with the air cushion space to enable air to flow from the former space to the latter space, and the bottom edges of said walls forming an air outlet through which air supplied by the ducting flows downwardly to form an air curtain below the skirt.

2. A vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the upper edge of said inner wall is spaced inwardly from the 3 4 location where the ducting supplies air to the upper FOREIGN PATENTS surface of said inside wall. 1,319,034 1/1963 France.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS BENJAMIN HERSH, Examiner. 3,161,247 12/1964 Mackie 1807 3 239 023 3 19 Jones 1 0 7 M. S. SALES, Assistant Examiner.

MILTON BUCHLER, Primary Examiner. 

1. A VEHICLE ADAPTED TO BE SUPPORTED AT LEAST PARTIALLY ON AN AIR CUSHION, THE VEHICLE COMPRISING A VEHICLE BODY HAVING A PERIPHERAL PART; A FLEXIBLE SKIRT ON THE UNDERSIDE OF THE VEHICLE BODY AND CONSTITUTING A SIDE OF A SPACE THAT RECEIVES AIR FROM FORMING THE AIR CUSHION, SAID SKIRT INCLUDING AN OUTER WALL OF FLEXIBLE MATERIAL EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY AND INWARDLY AND HAVING ITS UPPER EDGE EFFECTIVELY CARRIED BY THE PERIPHERAL PART OF THE BODY OF THE VEHICLE, SAID SKIRT ALSO COMPRISING AN INNER WALL EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY AND OUTWARDLY RELATIVE TO THE VEHICLE BODY AND SPACED FROM THE OUTER WALL, UPRIGHT FLEXIBLE WEBS LOCATED BETWEEN AND SPACED AT INTERVALS ALONG SAID WALLS, THE WEBS BEING ATTACHED TO THE INSIDE SURFACES OF THE WALLS ALONG LINES EXTENDING UPWARDLY AND DOWNWARDLY OF SAID SURFACES, SAID WEBS EXTENDING INWARDLY SUBSTANTIALLY PERPENDICULAR TO THE GENERAL DIRECTION OF THE ADJACENT PART OF SAID OUTER WALL ALONG SAID PERIPHERAL PART OF THE VEHICLE BODY AND BEING EFFECTIVELY CONNECTED TO THE UNDERSIDE OF THE VEHICLE BODY THEREBY TO LIMIT OUTWARD DISPLACEMENT OF SAID OUTER WALL; AND DUCTING FOR SUPPLYING AIR UNDER PRESSURE FOR THE SKIRT AND AIR CUSHION, SAID DUCTING BEING POSITIONED TO SUPPLY AIR TO THE UPPER PART OF THE INSIDE SURFACE OF THE OUTER WALL, THE SPACE BETWEEN SAID INNER AND OUTER WALLS COMMUNICATING WITH THE AIR CUSHION SPACE TO ENABLE AIR TO FLOW FROM THE FORMER SPACE TO THE LATTER SPACE, AND THE BOTTOM EDGES OF SAID WALLS FORMING AN AIR OUTLET THROUGH WHICH AIR SUPPLIED BY THE DUCTING FLOWS DOWNWARDLY TO FORM AN AIR CURTAIN BELOW THE SKIRT. 